


Issue 1: Cat's Cradle

by Vinnocent



Series: Junior League vol. 1: Titans West [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Blue Beetle (Comics), DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Awkwardness, Blood and Gore, F/M, Family Issues, Gen, Green Lantern Milagro, Gun Violence, Librarians, M/M, Missing Persons, Multi, Next-Gen, Siblings, Trans Character, polyamorous family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-10-28 03:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10822425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: Step-sisters Lian Harper and Mary Anders-Grayson struggle with the grief and worry over their missing parent Roy Harper while trying to keep up work as heroes. Meanwhile, the new Supergirl, Johanna, struggles to find her place on a new team in a new city while a familiar face returns to Lian's life at the worst moment.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this series was inspired by a lot of world building we (my wife - mademoisellePlume - and I) did for my [DCstuck](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6986443) series, but we felt a next-gen fic for DCstuck might be too niche, and soon I came up with the plot for Junior League. Obviously, no Homestuck in this one. The world is an amalgamation universe of various DC media. I've left notes about some of the changes at the end of the chapter. Feel free to ask me any questions you want or just leave any kind of comment. I love feedback! :)  
> \-- --  
> Second note: I originally wrote this on mobile, so the first few chapters are a little on the short side.

When Colin Wilkes walked out onto Titans West’s outdoor training field that morning, he wasn't expecting to be greeted by a glowing green blur rocketing in out of nowhere, landing several yards in front of him, and dimming down to reveal the form of his girlfriend. She dusts herself off, catches sight of him, and breaks into a wide grin. “Hey, Baby! Great timing!” she crows happily as she moves in to hug him. 

Ducking under her arms and dodging behind her was probably not the best way to handle that, but Colin was slightly panicked. She turns to him with an eyebrow raised in confusion and a slight frown. “What are-?”

Her unfinished question is preemptively answered by Damian Wayne exiting the building behind her, catching sight of her, and shouting, “What do you want, Reyes?”

Milagro Reyes turns to look back at him, confusion quickly resolving into annoyance. “You still haven't told him,” she realizes. 

“Obviously,” Colin groans as quietly as possible. 

“Colin Wilkes, you have no spine.”

“I am aware.”

“We went exclusive like a year and a half ago.”

“Well, if you omit the time you've spent off-planet…”

“Oh, do not _dare_ bring my job into this.”

“Sorry, you're right,” Colin admits. “I just… What if he…”

Frowning, Milagro takes some pity on him. “Do you want me to-?”

“Oh god no, that would be so much worse!”

Now in range for actual discussion, Damian demands again, “What's going on?”

Milagro frowns at Colin who gives her a desperate and helpless look. Finally, she sighs, and turns to Damian. “Just got back, but we've got a new recruit coming in today,” she tells him. “So call in the girls for a-”

“The girls aren't here,” Damian interrupts, rolling his eyes like he expects her to already know this. 

Milagro blinks at him. “What?” she demands. “Where the hell are they?”

Damian shrugs. “Los Angeles, probably? Maybe Gotham.”

Colin quickly supplies, “They took time off to be with Starfire and Nightwing.”

Milagro raises the eyebrow again. “ _Only_ Starfire and Nightwing?”

Damian's eyes slide to the side, his tell for what he calls “regrettable emotional responses.” He explains, “The Outlaws took a mission abroad six weeks ago, taking down smugglers on the Ivory Coast. Only Starfire came back. They still don't know what happened to Red Hood and Red Arrow. There are zero clues. The whole operation disappeared before she could get Batman out there.”

“Awe, shit.” Milagro rubs at the back of her neck. “I guess I can shuffle the recruit over to Titans East, even though they're pretty full right now. Or if you're ready to get back to work, I can shuffle some of their kids-”

“Actually, Red Wolf has been messaging me daily for the past nine days,” says Damian. “She's been pleading for an ‘emergency mission.’ She says she has ‘hit full capacity on Tamaranean feels sessions.’” This statement comes complete with air quotes. “If your recruit does want to work West, we can call at least Red Wolf in, if not Nightstar.”

“Actually, I do have a mission I was going to bring up with you,” Colin tells Damian. “It was going to be tough to handle on our own, so it could be what Red was asking for.”

“Awesome,” Milagro says, slapping her hands together. “Damian, call the girls in. Colin, get the mission details worked out. I'll go make sure everything is ready for Supergirl’s arrival.” As she heads in toward headquarters she shouts back, “And Colin, try to find your spine while you're at it!”

Damian casts a dubious glance toward his best friend. “What the hell is that about?”

Colin blushes deeply. “Oh… You know, um, Milagro and her wacky, um… So we're getting Supergirl, huh? Wow, weird. Wonder what Kara wants with the Titans at her age and level of expertise?”

Damian shakes his head and starts to lead them back inside. “If you'd read the news, you'd know she recently changed to ‘Superwoman.’ There must be another one.”

* * *

At the tail end of twenty years old, Lian Harper - pseudonym Red Wolf - was far from the oldest member of the Titans (which they'd learned to stop calling “ _Teen_ Titans” back during its first go when Beast Boy finally hit 20), but as she wasn't a leader like Robin or a trainer like Abuse, many people thought it was time for her to consider her options. Those people didn't seem to realize that it would be a cold day in hell when Lian let her fourteen year old stepsister, Mariand'r - pseudonyms Mary Anders-Grayson and Nightstar - operate on a team without her. And yet here she was, sitting in her childhood home in Tuba City, considering her options. 

The worst part of the high emotional stress of a family with two Tamaraneans in it is the sharp contrast with her own emotional responses. With normal people, she just looked “chilly” in comparison. With her stepmother and sister, she looked like a robot. 

And it was _her_ father that was missing. She should care _more_ than Mari, shouldn't she? It wasn't like growing up in a polyamorous family with three parents made one of them replaceable. She adored her dad. She just couldn't fucking stand the assumption that whatever the hell this was, it was something he couldn't handle. 

Roy Harper could handle anything. 

He had to. 

She'd never forgive him if he didn't. 

But to leave Mari now? For the sake of getting away from the sadness that was partially Mari’s? It wasn't like she even had a mission lined up. Maybe she should take Captain Chee at his offer of a job if she graduates police academy. That would teach her father to go missing.

Lian lets her head thump against the kitchen counter she's perched at. 

She wonders if she'll still have a job at the library when she gets back. Maybe they just don't want to fire her over the phone while she's already sad. Maybe she'll never find out because she'll never get back because this will never be over because he's never coming home and-

_Doodoodoodoo Doodoodoodoo Doodoodoodoo_

Oh thank fuck. 

Lian nearly drops her phone pulling it out of her pants so fast. “Robin? Problem?”

“There's a new teammate and a mission,” he grumbles into the phone in that distinct tone that means Milagro, the Justice League-assigned supervisor for both Titans teams, is back and he's both pissed and relieved - the latter of which he would never admit to. “So, if you're ready… I mean, if you need more time…”

“ _We'll be there as soon as possible!_ ” Lian cries maybe a smidge too eagerly. “ETA to come.” She hangs up and is out of her seat before she realizes that she forgot to ask Mari’s opinion before accepting. Eff. If she goes without Mari, there's no way she's going to make it to San Francisco by tonight. Oh well, she can always call back. 

She takes a moment to collect herself so it won't be obvious how desperate she is to get out of here, and then she heads to the living room. There, she finds her stepfather, Dick Grayson - pseudonym Nightwing - stretched out across the couch with his laptop propped up on his lap as he scowls at some spreadsheets. Sitting behind his head, Mari is trying to braid his hair despite the fact that it's pretty short these days. She's doesn't appear to really be enjoying herself, but at least she's not openly weeping? 

“Uh… Robin called…” Lian opens carefully. Not carefully enough based on the way Dick and Mari immediately sit up. “About Titans stuff!” she amends quickly. Now Dick just looks skeptical while Mari looks confused. “Um, he's trying to be understanding, but there's a mission and a new recruit-”

“A new recruit?!” Mari squeals at the same time Dick says “OW!” because she'd accidentally pulled on his hair in her excitement. “Who is it? When’s the mission?”

“I, uh, forgot to ask… about either of those things.”

“Because you really want to go back, huh?” Mari says with a small, pitying frown. 

Of fuck Tamaranean empathy. “I… He said…”

Dick is making a pinched expression. Is he trying not to laugh? “Mari, what did we tell you about announcing your sister's feelings?”

Mari frowns down at her biological father. “What?” she demands somewhat petulantly. “It's only you.”

Dick rolls his eyes. “And it's only Lian's feelings, which she gets to decide whether to announce or not, no matter how obvious they are. Now apologize to your sister.”

“I'm sorry I said what everyone knows,” Mari grumbles. 

Lian shoots her stepdad a betrayed look. “You knew.”

“Lian, I've known you almost all of your life. You aren't as subtle as you think you are.”

“So are we going?” asks Mari.

Dick looks back at her again and says, “Lian can make her own decisions. You, however, have to ask your mother. I'm okay with it if she is.”

“Be right back!” Mari promises, hopping off the couch to find Koriand'r - pseudonyms Kory Anders and Starfire. 

Lian watches her go, then turns back to Dick. “Why didn't you say something?” she asks. 

He sighs and sits up properly and puts his laptop away on the coffee table. “Look, we didn't want to put pressure on you. We thought you'd say something eventually, but… We've been talking.” He gestures wearily to the laptop and says, “Research hasn't helped much. Your mom and I thought that when you girls were ready to go back to the Titans - or whatever you wanted to do next - we'd go join Queen at the site, see what we can dig up there. I mean it's not that we don't trust him-”

“But it's better than sitting here,” Lian supplies. “I could go with you.”

“Yeah?” says Dick with a half grin. “And who would hold Mari’s leash to ensure she stays here?”

Lian looks away. It's true that Mari listens to Lian more often than to Dick and Kori, but they could manage to convince her to stay. “You're just saying that because you know the Mari card works better than ‘we said no’.”

Dick’s smile turns a bit guilty at the edges. “Just as the Lian card works better for her than ‘we said no,’” he admits. “So is it working?”

Before Lian can answer, Mari returns, announcing, “Mom said yes!” She hesitates, glancing back and forth between Lian and Dick. “Did you send me away just so you could upset each other?”

“No, Mari,” Lian grouses. “It just turns out most topics these days are upsetting. It doesn't matter. Go pack while I tell Robin we'll be there in five hours.”

Mari looks suspicious but leaves. Lian digs out her phone and taps out the text message. When she finishes, she turns to Dick and tells him, “If either of you get hurt, go missing, or die, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth, bring you back to life if necessary, and then yell at you until your ears bleed for making us worry.”

Dick’s grin widens. “Noted,” he tells her. And then he hugs his daughter, quietly pretending not to notice her tears.

“I don't know what Mari would do without you,” she chokes out, and he can't help but laugh.

“You're so much like him; you don't even know," Dick teases her.

* * *

“There's nothing to worry about,” Clark tells his daughter as they jet at a much slower speed than he's used to clear across the country to Titans’ Edge, the San Francisco headquarters of Titans West, built into the side of a cliff. There have been a lot of Titans headquarters over the years, and, surprisingly, the one hanging precariously over certain doom is the one to have lasted the longest. “Both Kon and Kara have spent significant time with various iterations of the Titans.”

“Yeah, but they knew people there,” Joa-El sulks. “They weren't dispatched via Justice League to fill in a gap.”

They land on the helicopter pad, and Clark turns to her with all seriousness. “Joa, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to.”

“No,” she says quietly. “I never get to actually participate when I team up with family. Anything I can handle, you're fully capable of handling for yourself.”

“You could always just… not do the sup- Okay, stop glaring at me. I was just voicing the options.”

“It's fine,” says Joa, crossing her arms over her chest. “I'm just nervous.”

Clark smiles gently and assures her, “I promise there's no reason to be nervous. They'll love you. How could they not?”

“Are you going to stand up here all day or what?” Robin demands as he appears in the doorway of the roof stairs. 

Clark sighs heavily. “To be fair, he's always like that,” he says. 

“I should go,” Joa says with a forced smile. “Wish me luck?”

Clark hugs her tightly. Releasing her, he says, “Be good.”

And then he flies away. 

The walk down the stairwell is quiet and echoing. Joa can hear whispered conversation in some other room, but the acoustics of the stairs make the sound unintelligibly garbled.

Soon, Robin is holding the fourth floor door open for her. She follows him a short way down the hall there to a room designated Mission Tactics. Again, he ushers her in, and she finds herself facing two more adults. Robin shuts the door behind her, and the woman Joa recognizes from television as Green Lantern Milagro Reyes steps forward with a broad grin and shakes her hand. “Supergirl! It's good to meet you! Welcome to Titans West!” she says. “My name is Milagro Reyes; I'm the Justice League supervisor for the Titans divisions. You've met Robin,” she says, gesturing to him as he comes around Joa’s side. “He'll be your team leader. And this,” She gestures to the red-headed man beside her. He's a sharp contrast with the brown-skinned, small and slight figure of Green Lantern and the tan-skinned, tall and broad figure of Robin, with his slightly above average height and his very fair skin and his noticeable layer of pudge. “is Abuse, the resident trainer. I'm afraid your teammates are-”

“SORRY WE'RE LATE!” a girl's voice shouts as the door is thrown open again. In bursts a girl that Joa estimates at approximately her own age, maybe slightly older, wide and round and busty with a huge mass of wavy, blue-black hair. She is pulling along with her a woman of unclear ethnicity with much shorter, thinner hair dyed blood red and glasses with actual prescription lenses. The girl comes to a very sudden stop when she sees Joa, causing glasses woman to nearly run into her. Her face transforms from surprise to glee, she jumps into the air (and stays there), and she shouts, “Oh my god, Jo-Jo?!!”

Joa looks over the girl. There is absolutely nothing familiar about her. She rarely meets with fliers outside her own family. “I'm sorry, I'm having difficulty… Have we met before?” Joa asks. 

“I…” The girl hits the ground again. “I'm Mariand'r. We were friends?”

Joa hesitates. “We… were?”

Glasses woman rubs at her temple wearily. “Mari, you were like four years old. Only you would remember that,” she says. She reaches forward and shakes Joa’s hand. “I'm Red Wolf. This is my sister, Nightstar. We're your teammates. Specialties surveillance and sharpshooting for me, flight and brute strength for her.”

Oh great, another team where Joa’s skillset is already met by someone else. Joa forces a smile and holds her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Nightstar,” she says. “I'm Joa-El, Supergirl.”

“I _know_ ,” Mari says, glowering at her. “We've _met_.”

When she realizes that Mari's not going to shake it, Joa awkwardly lowers her hand. Robin rolls his eyes. “Don't take it personally,” he mumbles into his hand, obviously intending for Joa’s superhearing to pick it up. When Mari shoots him a suspicious look, he distracts her with, “Abuse? Mission?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Alright,” Colin says, stepping forward to the missions table. He turns it on with a swipe and brings up the parameters Damian had logged. He enlarges the mugshot of Peterson. “This is Josh Peterson. He's the soon-to-be ex-husband of a woman at the Clover Valley shelter. He's got some big smuggling connections that their lawyer wants to use to get her children back, but the cops have been unable to prove it. I'm guessing because of connections because _it wasn't that hard to prove_.” Some more taps brings up a bunch of surveillance photos. “I found him nightly at the docks exactly where she said he’d be. But the police _will not_ shut this down on their own, so we have to. The ring is important; it's doing some major trafficking. But so is Peterson.”

“Oh,” Supergirl says suddenly, realization dawning on her face. “ _That's_ why you're called Abuse?”

Colin blushes slightly. “Oh, um, yeah. My specialty is punching assholes.”

“You make it sound mild,” Milagro says with a snort of amusement that only makes him blush harder. 

“Because of Peterson, we’re dividing and actually taking Green Lantern with us,” Damian explains, bringing up schematics of the dock, the boat parked at it, and its adjoining shed. “Green Lantern, Nightstar, and Supergirl will take the boat. Your mission is to subdue and detain everyone aboard. Abuse and I will take the shed first then move in to join you. We will be subduing and detaining miscreants as well, but our focus is locating and detaining Peterson.”

“Red Wolf, that's what makes your job so vital,” says Colin. “You're on surveillance and sharpshooting again. Disable anyone escaping. If you see Peterson fleeing the scene and are unable to disable him from your position, then give pursuit. There is a good chance that if he feels pressed, he will leave town, and we will never see those kids again.”

Red Wolf nods solemnly. She's already glaring steadily at the mugshot, noting Peterson’s exact features. 

“Any questions?” Damian demands of the team. No one answers. “Good. Suit up. Stealth suits. Check your weapons and your tools. I'm looking at you, Ms. Dulled Batarangs,” he warns Nightstar. “We leave at nine.”

* * *

Supergirl is not prepared for Abuse. It occurs to her she should have maybe asked more questions beforehand, so she wouldn't be gawking like an idiot when Abuse’s muscles began to bubble out like boiling liquid and his bones began to stretch and a few minutes later, a pudgy, harmless-looking young man had transformed into a massive monster of a man. 

“Don't throw up,” Red Wolf warns. “He cries if you throw up.”

Abuse shoots her a dirty look. 

“You could have warned me beforehand,” Supergirl grumbles back, but, to her credit, she pries her eyes away from the Titans’ resident trainer and resolutely does not throw up. 

Robin looks up from triple-checking his equipment. “They didn't?”

Nightstar shrugs with badly feigned innocence. “Oops! I forgot! Sorry, boss-man.”

Robin glares at her, obviously not believing her. Supergirl feels her stomach boiling. She wonders if Kryptonians can actually do that. It would be a very embarrassing way to die. 

Green Lantern punches Nightstar in the shoulder. “Don't Mean Girl the newbie,” she warns. “You're too old for that.”

“Whose files have you been reading?” Nightstar counters. “I am the exact right age for that.”

Robin turns on her once more and makes it final. “Nightstar, we are on a mission. Cut it out or go home. Lives could actually be on the line if you distract us.”

To her credit, Nightstar actually looks chastised. “Sorry, sir. I'll be serious.”

“Do I need to move you to another team?”

Nightstar looks like she's been punched. “N-no! I'll be good.”

Robin watches her for a second, then nods. “Then get in positions. Red Wolf will give the signal when she sees that everyone is ready.” At that, he heads off toward the shed with Abuse lumbering beside him. There's something tense about Abuse’s body language, and Supergirl honestly didn't mean to eavesdrop when she hears Robin tell his cohort, “You can let go soon enough.”

Green Lantern and Nightstar take off, so Supergirl follows. Unfortunately, with the glow of the Lantern ring’s power, Milagro has no “stealth mode” and thus has to wait at a pretty high altitude above the small cargo ship to keep her green light from attracting attention. Supergirl, however, can hover a mere 20 feet above the highest point of the ship. 

Supergirl is surprised when Nightstar's attempt to hover at the other end of the boat means a lot wobbling and occasionally nearly dropping. Supergirl herself hasn't wobbled since she was a kindergartener. Huh. Maybe they _don't_ have the same skillset. Is that why Nightstar is so mad at her? But no, she'd seemed excited at first.

Red Wolf’s voice crackles on the radio in Supergirl’s ear. “Nightstar, if you stress your powers too much, you could lose them temporarily. Now is not the time. Find a perch.”

Nightstar looks around and then realizes that the best perch to not be detected is underneath Supergirl. With a sigh, Supergirl floats aside, hoping to communicate her willingness to trade places. Looking embarrassed, Nightstar floats over to the high point - steering cabin, Supergirl suspects - and lowers herself as gently as possible to the roof. Supergirl moves to Nightstar's abandoned position. 

“Alpha Team, provide thumbs up if you are ready.”

Supergirl gives her thumbs up. Nightstar does hers. Peering up into the sky with her enhanced vision, Supergirl can see that Green Lantern does as well. 

“Beta Team, provide thumbs up if you are ready.”

Supergirl stops herself from turning to try to find Robin and Abuse, which is good because almost immediately, Red Wolf follows herself up with, “Then go.”

Green Lantern rockets down like a bullet (which might actually have been what the green energy surrounding her was taking shape of on the way down), cracks through a few decks, and then starts the fight, intending to fight her way from the bottom up, herding everyone together. Nightstar disappears off the side of her perch to start picking off people on the top deck. Before Supergirl can join them, however, it’s her job to take out the engines. 

* * *

Lian watches from the next boat over, which is the highest vantage she could find. Her night vision goggles see almost the entire scene, but it means she can't watch Green Lantern or Nightstar closely for risk of exposing her retinas to flares of intense light. So, she concentrates on the periphery. 

She picks off the men running out of the storage shed, one leg at a time. When Abuse and Robin finally emerge after them, she swings her gaze back to the docked boat. Were it not for a small flash of exposed skin in the area of the eyes, Lian might have missed the completely black-clad slight figure escaping the boat via its most shadowed corner. It was such a calculated move that the person had to have scouted beforehand, expecting that snipers might be a problem. 

_But they didn't count on me,_ Lian thinks, aiming her rifle carefully. 

The target, however, is moving at inconsistent speeds and directions. Lian is unable to get a shot. She grimaces. She knows the highest priority is making sure Peterson doesn't escape, but her orders are to not let _anyone_ escape. 

Two more figures dive off the side of the boat and into the water, and two shots go instantly into the left shoulder of one and the right shoulder of the other, and then she returns her attention to the clever escapee just as they hop a low wall. _Dammit_.

Just before she looks away, just before she returns her attention to the mission, to the targets that she can still disable, she sees a head peek back up over the wall, look right at her with its own set of light-reflecting lenses, grin, and blow a kiss right to her. 

Then it disappears again. 


	3. Chapter 3

How exactly does one break the news to their heroic teammates that her own villainous biological mother is back in town? Back in town and blowing kisses at her. Ugh. Technically, Lian doesn't have any evidence to lead her to this conclusion, but personal experience makes it obvious. Even before the kiss, there was… Cheshire was the only one who could ever so thoroughly predict her, and Lian has fought actual psychics. 

Lian Harper has been taught sharpshooting, psychology, military tactics and combat logistics, and like an unholy amount of detail regarding the drug trade by her father. She has been taught to fight metas, magic users, and superpowered aliens by her stepmother (not to mention a lot of completely irrational Tamaranean manners) in addition to the unique "education" she was granted by her "summers abroad." She has been taught stealth, detective work, gymnastics, strength and flexibility of both the physical and emotional sort by her stepfather. But it was her mother that taught her that absolutely none of that counted for anything unless you could bring in your target. 

Lian squints at her unfinished report. She finishes with ' _and then I shot a bunch of other people in the same way_ ' and signs off on it. She clicks send. She wants to go to sleep, but she puts her tablet on her desk and heads out to the training floor because, as much as she wants to sleep, she wants to punch things more. 

Wilkes looks up from his desk, shoved into a corner of the gym, as she enters the room. The training floor has a firing range, a "sparring room" which is basically for death matches with robots, several "specialization" rooms which can be modified for any training regimen, and then the big gym, which is just like any other gym one might go to. With half their team being powered, Lian and Wayne are the only ones that use the gym regularly. Even Wilkes only really gets exercise by opposing the girls in training as his Venom-tainted blood means the muscle mass will always come to him when he needs it. 

“Hey, Red,” Wilkes greets her with a concerned frown. “Shouldn't you be resting up from the mission?”

“I was roosted. All I did was sit on my ass,” she reminds him. 

He considers this, then shrugs. “Fair enough. But I'm heading to bed as soon as I finish this paperwork, so if you want to use the heavy machines, do it now while I can still supervise.”

Lian shakes her head. “I just want to hit something.”

His attention is already back on his work. “Have at it, then,” he says, waving her off.

Lian heads to the lockers next to him, grabs her tape, and starts wrapping her hands. She's not just going to hit the punching bag. She's going to wale on it.

She's almost done prepping when the door thuds open, and Wayne demands, “Harper, what the hell is this?”

She rolls her eyes and turns to him. He is, predictably, waving his tablet at her. She's pretty sure, based on context, that it has her report pulled up. “I didn't find it necessary to write out every shot in detail, sir.”

“I'm talking about -” He turns his tablet back toward himself to read, “'At this point, one target escaped by predicting and preparing for non-lethal sniping procedure. Slight figure. Non-dark skin. Estimated to be approximately five foot, two inches. Otherwise, fully hidden by dark clothing.'” He glowered at her. “You never let anyone escape.”

Ugh, she'd been hoping to put this off. Of course, she needs to recuse herself from related missions where Cheshire may show up again, but it brings acid to her throat. “Yes, sir. About that…”

He gawks at her. “Are you about to give me excuses, Harper?” he demands. 

“No, sir, I just…”

“You don't _just_ anything, Harper! You're a hero! You do your job!”

Lian starts to tell him that she needs to recuse herself… but why. Why should she? Is she really going to recuse herself because her mommy issues might make her a bad fighter? The answer to that isn't to run away; it's to be a better fighter. He's right. She only has one job. Her mission is simple. She knows how to follow orders.

“Yes, sir,” she says. “Won't happen again.”

Robin is predictably satisfied with this answer. “Good,” he says, needing the last word. “Make sure that it doesn't.”

When he leaves, Wilkes groans with exhaustion. “So I guess I'll set up the shooting range, then.”

Lian takes pity on him. “Wilkes, I've been taught firearms safety since I could talk and walk, and I've been applying it since I was 11. I can set it up on my own and manage not to shoot myself or others while you catch some sleep.” She makes her way to one of the punching bags. “This first though,” she decides.

* * *

Mariand'r is not having a good day. It starts in the morning (or “noon,” as most people would call it) when she goes to the fridge to collect her Hareberian mushroom clusters for breakfast. But the fridge had been completely cleared out of non-human food. When she made inquiries into this (or “threw a fit,” as most people would call it), she had caught movement in the corner of her eye and turned to see Joa trying to sink lower in her seat on the couch to get out of view. “You!” Mari instantly accused the newcomer. 

“Now, Mari,” Milagro starts at the same time Joa ducks guiltily behind the back of the couch and cries, “I didn't mean to!”

“Why are you being so nasty to me?!” Mari demands. 

“ME?” Joa demands back. “You started it! No, wait, that's not what I- I _meant_ that I'd only been trying to clean?”

“What's cleaning got to do with throwing away food?” Mari demands. 

“I- There were things _growing_ in the fridge!” Joa says. “I think one of them was a slime mold! It _was moving around_!”

“Yes?” says Mari, clearly not understanding the point. 

“Okay, let's just-” Milagro tries to interrupt, just as Joa says, “People don't eat that stuff!” to which Milagro finds herself groaning in disbelief. 

Mari is _livid_. There are greenish sparks sputtering along her skin. “So I'm not _people_ now?” she screeches.

“I didn't mean-!”

“ _Hey, I have you ever been to the Atlantean market?_ ” Milagro asks somewhat desperately. “How ’bout I take you to lunch, Mari?” While Mari is adequately distracted, Joa crawls to the other end of the couch and then makes her escape. 

“But my mushrooms!” Mari pouts. 

“Hey, Guy owes me like a dozen favors, and Kyle owes me three,” Mari tells her. “I’m sure together, we’ll find somewhere to get you some more.”

But that isn’t the end end of Joa’s misfortunes. Wandering the still unfamiliar building, she just happens to end up back at the dorms just as Mariand'r and Red Wolf are exiting Mari’s room. Blushing brightly and turning away, she immediately apologizes, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to walk in on you!”

“Walk in?” Mari repeats in confusion. “Why are you suddenly so embarrassed _now_?”

“I didn’t mean to see you undressed!” Joa insists, hoping she doesn’t get blamed for this either. 

There’s a brief moment of surprised silence, and then Lian groans and Mari explodes, “ _I AM dressed!_ ”

An uncertain glance back to Mari reveals the girl in cut-off short shorts, a top that would more accurately be called a bra, and sneakers. Aside from some gold jewelry, that is _all_ she is wearing. “Um,” Joa says hesitantly. 

“Okay, Mari, why don't you go find Milagro? I need to talk to Joa,” Red Wolf says firmly. 

Apparently satisfied that her sister will handle the matter, Mari makes a face at Joa then runs off. 

Red Wolf turns to Joa with an appraising glance. Joa decides not to ask why she's dressed like a school teacher. Finally, she sighs and says, “I don't have time for this. You're coming to work with me to stay out of trouble.” Red Wolf turns sharply on her heels. “You have five minutes to get whatever you need and meet me at ground level exit.”

As it turns out, Red Wolf works at a library, which is not the reason she dresses like a school teacher, her name is Lian, she is not a werewolf, and she thinks Joa should stop saying aloud every thought that rises into her head. 

“Look, I have to work,” says Lian as she heads into some office. “Don’t talk to anyone, and I’m sure even you can manage to stay out of trouble.”

Jo, as she tends to prefer to be called in public, shifts her weight uncertainly. “What am I supposed to do _here_?” she wonders.

Lian turns back to her, frowning. “Uh, read a book?” she says. “Look, even if you’re not much of a reader, we have comics and movies and music and stuff. If you want to check something out, just tell them I’m your roommate; I’ll be your proof of address.”

“Um, okay?” Jo says, more because it’s expected of her than anything else.

Lian closes the door, returning to… whatever it is she does here.

Jo sighs, looks around, and heads into the library at large.

* * *

Six hours after their arrival at the library, Lian finds Jo sitting on a bench in the lobby next to a small stack of books, reading through what appears to be a textbook of some kind while she waits for Lian. Lian smirks as though she’s won an argument. “Find something you liked after all?” she asks.

“Hm?” says Jo, looking up. “Oh, hi! Um, yes, I did. Sorry, um, about earlier. It’s not that I don’t know what to do in a library, it was just that, um, well, it’s a new and unfamiliar place, and I just wanted you to know that. That I know what Libraries are for. ’Cuz I do. Can you please say something so that I can stop talking?”

Lian snorts a laugh. “Well, we need to head back soon, because Robin’s called a meeting, but… Can I sit next to you?” she asks.

Jo blinks in surprise. “I, um, sure?” she says, quickly picking up her stack of books and scooting to one end of the bench.

Lian sits next to her and starts with, “Look, I should have mentioned before, but… you _do_ know that I know your identity, don’t you?”

“No?” says Jo, then quickly adds, “Well, I mean, I didn’t think about it. But, yeah, if I had, well, you and your sister mentioned earlier that apparently you’d met me as a baby?”

Lian nods. “Yeah my stepdad’s family is tight with your dad’s family, so they used to do try to get you two to play together when you were too young to manage your powers around human kids,” she says.

“Right,” says Jo. “So, yeah, I mean, I’m fine with it. I don’t care that you know.”

Lian nods again. “Okay, well, your identity is the reason I wanted to talk?” she tells Jo. “When Cyndie came back to ask me to vouch for you, she said you’d said you were my roommate _Jonathan_.”

Jo frowns in confusion. “Yeah?” she says, clearly not understanding what the issue is.

“You do know that you don’t have to use your legal name on your library card, right?”

The surprise on Jo’s face says that, no, she did not know that. “But it’s government run?” she says.

Lian snorts. “It’s _partially_ federal-, state-, and city-funded ,” she tells Jo. “That’s not the same thing as being government-run. You can’t use your library card as a form of identification; it’s just a convenient method of tracking billing information. Just as you could have your mail addressed to Jonathan or Johanna or even Jesus if you wanted, you can call yourself by your preferred name on your library card.”

“Oh…”

“Look, we have time to go fix it, if you－”

“N-no!” Jo cries hurriedly. “No, I－ I don’t want to cause a fuss,” she says. “I’ve gotten in people’s way enough already.”

Lian frowns at that but decides not to press too hard on the issue. They can always fix the card later. “Alright,” she finally agrees, and she stands again, ready to lead Jo back to the bus stop. “But if any staff member ever gives you crap about your name not matching your appearance, you ask for me, okay?”

“Oh, I don’t－”

“Good, we’re clear, then,” Lian interrupts, refusing to let Jo make excuses for hypothetical assholes. “Let’s get going.”

Jo nods, blushing, and quickly gathers her things up and hurries to follow Lian, looking for the world like a freshly adopted puppy.

At the bus stop, Lian tells Jo, “Look, about Mari? Just please give her some space and try to put a plug in the verbal diarrhea. She’s a brat, okay? Literal princess. She’s not used to people who don’t fawn over her everywhere she goes, so she’s convinced that you only said you didn’t remember her to be mean because everyone always remembers her.” Lian sighs heavily and rolls her eyes. “But she’s a good kid, and she’s sensitive to emotion, even if not with the same accuracy as her mom. When she calms down enough to start actually pay attention to her senses, she’ll see you didn’t mean it. You just have to give it some time.”

Jo shifts her weight and fiddles with the protective plastic edge of the bottom book on her stack. “Thanks,” she mumbles. “For the advice. And for taking me to the library. And just, like, looking out for me.”

Lian shrugs. “We’re teammates,” she says like it’s obvious.

And Jo realizes then that it is.


	4. Chapter 4

“Here’s the deal,” Robin tells his team in the Missions Room. “Last night, as you may recall, we not only obtained our target － Josh Peterson － but also three dozen smugglers and an entire boat full of evidence.”

Milagro’s hand shoots up.

Robin sighs heavily. “Now is not the time for questions, Reyes; I only started the meeting thirty seconds ago,” he growls at her.

“Just real quick, I need to know,” Milagro says, leaning forward with a massive grin, “would you call it… a _boatload_ of evidence?”

He glares at her until Abuse and Nightstar are done giggling, then continues, “However, in handing over our evidence and testimony to the District Attorney, she actually requested that we go bust _another_ warehouse that they think is connected to the case, owned by the same man as owns the boat. She wants _us_ to get to it before the police do, due to the suspicion that some police officers have been paid to ignore this group. Having the evidence obtained and processed by a third party means little opportunity for police to ignore or ‘lose’ evidence.”

Red Wolf raises her hand but doesn’t wait to be called on. “I thought lawyers hated vigilante evidence because it can sometimes be thrown out and lead to the accused going free,” she says.

“In most cases, yes,” says Robin. “But here, the known benefits outweigh the potential risks. All the same, we need to be _very_ careful with processing and make sure everything is documented, _and try to write our reports with some dignity and clarity, Red Wolf and Nightstar_.”

Nightstar blushes and lowers down in her seat so that she’s barely looking up at him over the table top. Red Wolf, however, is unfazed and without guilt.

“Wait, did the newbie write a decent report?” Milagro says, suddenly fidgeting with her tablet.

“Yeah, I showed her how,” Abuse says, looking mildly offended that she thought no one would tell Supergirl what to do.

“More importantly: Did you not read the reports?” demands Robin. 

Milagro snorts and opens up a celebrity game app simply to check her progress, answering, “No matter how many times and contexts in which you ask that question, the answer is always ‘No.’”

“Then, why do you make me send them in?” he demands.

“Obviously, I can’t annoy you by not reading them if you don’t send them in,” Milagro says, rolling her eyes at him.

“ _Guys_ ,” Abuse chastises. “Can we please stay on topic? The mission, Robin?”

Robin clucks at Milagro but returns his attention to the mission table, shoving Milagro’s feet off the edge in order to change the display. “So the plan will go much the same as last time in that we cover, invade, subdue, and detain,” he explains. “This is the warehouse. There are three entrances, so the six of us will split up to cover them all at once. Abuse, you’re with Reyes. Red Wolf, you’re with Nightstar. Supergirl, you’re with me. These pairs are specific to abilities and weaknesses; keep an eye on your partner at all times. If your partner is injured, you cover them and get them out. Any questions?”

No one responds.

“Then suit up. Use your public colors and wear your body cameras. Yes, even you, Reyes. Make sure you test all your equipment, including cameras and microphones before heading out. Each team is also being paired with a drone; try not to break it.”

* * *

Lian suits up in the small suite she shares with her sister. It has a small sitting room/study area, a private bathroom, and a large bedroom with enough closet and storage space for two-to-four people, depending on how fashionable they are. A few such suites had been built into the tower along with the typical single-room dorms, due to the fact that many teams tended to develop committed couples over time. The siblings used it because Mariand’r was a spoiled brat who got whatever she wanted, and what she often wanted was her sister’s constant presence. Not that Lian hadn’t pulled a lot of similar stunts when Mari was a baby and toddler, insisting the little girl accompany her everywhere like a new toy.

Lian’s colors are red and black. Specifically, blood red and off-black. Black is too hard to maintain, so she figured she might as well just start off with it slightly faded. The red came from her father, and not only is it the color she chooses to dye her hair (currently braided and pinned to be kept out of her face), but it’s the color of the long-sleeved, legless kevlar body suit she wears as the base of the costume. Over that, she simply pulls on a pair of black jeans. Good jeans can take a lot more abuse than they’re given credit for and are more flexible than kevlar, and when you’re running for your life, flexibility is more important than protection. (A lesson learned from her stepdad, though she must admit her own style is a bit more reminiscent of her “Uncle Jason.”)

The rest of the costume depends on the mission. For this mission, she pulls up the arms of her suit and straps on steel forearm guards before pulling the sleeves back down over top. Her shins get the same treatment. The high neck of her suit already has in it a titanium mesh to help protect her throat. Steel-toed combat boots with highly flexible soles are laced over the jeans and shin guards. Black gloves are added for the protection from her own guns, since she won’t be able to be as careful in combat as she is sniping. A black half-mask goes on over her nose and mouth to protect her identity.

And, at last, she dons her holsters, her sheaths, and her utility belt. Today, she takes with her a single semi-automatic pistol, a serrated hunting knife, and a strong but needle-thin dagger along with additional ammo, medical supplies, emergency kit, cell phone, and the Jindadic crystal given to her by her stepmother only a little over a week ago which would allow, failing all else, for someone with Tamaranean empathic abilities to locate her － or at least locate the crystal. Koriand’r had claimed it was “just because” and “an early birthday gift,” but Lian didn’t need to be an empath to see that Kori regretted having never given one to either Jason or Roy, no matter how expensive they were.

Finally ready, Lian turns back to her sister to see Mari lying on her bed in her strapless, legless one-piece suit, which was black with a dark purple front panel and a bird motif shaping the neckline. She had some boots that went with it, in her mother's style. The costume is not Kevlar, and, as far as Lian can tell, holds Mari’s abundant cleavage in place by sheer force of will alone. The costume made Nightwing’s skin itch, but not only did Mari crave sun exposure, but her body tended to run hot and she'd overheat in anything even half as conservative as her sister's costume. 

She is reading a _People Magazine_. 

“ _Mary_ ,” Lian snaps irritably. 

“What?” she whines. “I'm just waiting for you.”

“Your utility belt.”

“Hm?”

“ _Put your belt on, Mary_.”

Mariand'r tosses her magazine aside and whines, “But it's ugly and sits weird.”

“Well, you're not borrowing supplies off me,” Lian insists. 

Mariand'r turns to her sister with a shit-eating grin. “But that's what sisters are for!”

Lian watches her sister for a moment, then decides, “You misplaced it, didn't you?”

“ _Whaaaaat?_ Lian, how could you say such a thing?!”

Lian rolls her eyes. “You have still have time to clean your side of the room and find it,” she says. “I'm heading down to the garage to check over my bike.”

“Yeah, okay,” says Mariand'r. She does not get up from the bed. 

“I'm serious. You're not using my shit.”

“Sure.”

Lian starts to leave in a huff. Then, she thinks better of it and says, “Do you really want Supergirl to look more prepared than you?”

Laughing, Lian flees in time for the pillow her sister lobs at her to hit the door instead of its intended target.

* * *

“Camera One - label Nightstar Body Cam - now synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b’,” says Milagro, fiddling with her tablet where the team has parked a short distance from the warehouse. “Camera Two - label Red Wolf Body Cam - now synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b’.”

She bends down, picks up a drone off the small pile, turns it on. It hovers, waiting for instructions, and she uses the tablet to set it to follow Nightstar and Red Wolf’s body cameras. “Automated Camera Drone Alpha - label Team NightWolf - now anchored to Cameras One & Two and synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’ NightWolf may now move to northeast exit of target location. Remember that it is vital to use code names only and to stay to lit areas.”

Nightstar and Red Wolf nod seriously and then quickly move out, the drone tailing them with a quiet whir. Milagro watches her screen for a moment to ensure all three cameras are, in fact, feeding directly into the network. She then turns to the next pair. “Camera Three - label Supergirl Body Cam - now synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’ Camera Four - label Robin Body Cam - now synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’ Automated Camera Drone Beta - label Team SuperBird - now anchored to Cameras Three & Four and synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’” Robin rolls his eyes at the team name and flips Milagro off. She rolls her eyes back, more exaggerated than he had done, and continues, “SuperBird may now move to southeast exit of target location. Remember that it is vital to use code names only and to stay to lit areas.”

As Robin and Supergirl move out, Milagro turns to Abuse. “Camera Five - label Green Lantern Body Cam - now synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’ Camera Six - label Abuse Body Cam - now synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’ Automated Camera Drone Gamma - label Team Gruse - now anchored to Cameras Five & Six and synced to OraNet box ‘TW-685b.’ We’ll be moving to the west exit of the target location. Remember that it is vital to use code names only and to stay to lit areas.” Milagro then tucks her tablet into the saddle pocket of Red Wolf’s motorcycle, knowing that if she keeps it on her, it will probably get broken… again.

“Milagro,” says Abuse behind her.

Milagro turns to him, brushing her bangs aside out of habit despite the fact that she’d got them cut just that morning. “Problem?” she asks.

There’s something strange in his expression. He’s harder to read all muscled-out like this. She also knows that he finds his inhibitions drastically lowered, affecting not only his level of violence but the things he says. And what he says is, “Be careful.”

She’s not sure what to make of it, and glances uncertainly at the drone hovering between and above them, not wanting to get into couple’s issues right now, whatever the hell is going through his head. So, she shrugs it off, putting on the mask of bravado she always uses in public, on camera, with the teams… “I’m always hella careful,” she teases with a laugh and punches him in the arm. “Come on, Gorilla. We’re overdue.”

Together, they move to the west exit. She taps her earpiece to make sure it’s on. “Team Gruse in position,” she announces to the group. She steps back from the door, letting Abuse square himself and pull back his arm in preparation to knock it down. She summons a shield of orbiting toothed chains around herself. 

“Count of four,” says Robin, probably because he likes being weird. “One. Two. Three. Four!”

Abuse knocks the door down; Milagro barrels through; Drone Gamma shoots through the doorway to hover above them. Milagro can hear the others making their own sudden entrances, but her view is blocked by high stacks of crates. The men inside the warehouse stand or move from their positions, most grabbing for their weapons.

Milagro’s green chains whip out, grab all nearby guns and knives, and fling them behind her as Abuse barrels past her and takes down the three closest men. First one to try to get up again gets a ham-sized fist to the face. He’s gonna need some major surgery if he ever wants to breathe through his nose again.

Another guy comes for Milagro, and she spins a roundhouse kick that sends him right to the floor before turning to another guy, her chains disappearing in favor of a giant green fist that blows the new guy off his feet and across the room. Abuse takes a bullet to the shoulder as he grabs another couple men by the collars and throws them to over the nearest wall of crates.

Slowly, by twos and threes, the heroes herd the smugglers in toward the center of the warehouse, where Milagro and Robin process them, cuffing them, identifying those they can, and going through their pockets for evidence as Supergirl and Abuse keep guard, Supergirl’s red eyes peering through boxes for any otherwise unseen newcomers while Abuse watches the large group of detainees. 

Finally, Nightstar lands next to them, looking around in confusion. She is not joined by her sister. Drone Alpha zigzags around the ceiling in confusion. Milagro turns to her and demands, “Where’s your partner, Nightstar?”

“I－ I don’t know!” Nightstar says worriedly. “When I finished ours off, I turned to her but she… she wasn’t… You haven’t seen her?”

Robin swears loudly. “What did I tell you about keeping track of your partner _only an hour ago_?” he demands.

“She’s always kept an eye on me before!” Nightstar objects.

“IT GOES BOTH WAYS, NIGHTSTAR!”

“Shut it,” Milagro barks. “Now’s not the time. Supergirl, fetch my tablet from Red Wolf’s motorcycle. Fast as possible.”

Supergirl disappears in a red and blue blur, reappearing only a few seconds later, holding out Milagro’s tablet to her. Milagro checks Red Wolf’s body camera, but wherever she is, there’s barely enough light to see anything besides occasional blurs of movement. On the microphone, they can hear the sounds of a fight.

Milagro quickly opens Drone Alpha’s settings and removes the anchor to Camera One. The drone immediately buzzes out of the warehouse as fast as it little engines can take it. “Where is she?” demands Robin, scowling at the screen over her shoulder.

“Ssh, hold on,” hisses Milagro. She opens up the drone’s video feed and watches as buildings buzz by under its spotlight, until it finally comes to an abrupt stop at an abandoned house. It swirls around the house until it finds an open window and darts in, brightening its spotlight. There, in what had once been a kitchen, Red Wolf throws a black-clad figure into a counter.

The target laughs as Red Wolf attempts to close in and throw a punch only to have the target dodge aside at the last second. Robin and Milagro both stiffen in surprise; the punch had been extremely telegraphed. Red Wolf was either _trying_ to lose or wasn’t thinking clearly. “Oh _honey_ ,” the target taunts. “You’re much too young to be getting this rusty.”

Nightstar gasps and grabs the tablet from Milagro, staring at the fight with wide eyes. Milagro swats at her angrily. “What’s going on, Nightstar?” she demands. “Does she know the target?”

Nightstar glances guiltily up at Milagro and Robin, then down in horror at the screen, then back up at her mentors. Finally, with child-like shyness and guilt, Nightstar nods. “It’s－”

The sound of a shot fired rings out from the tablet. Milagro grabs it back. The black-clad figure and Red Wolf are wrestling for Red Wolf’s dropped pistol. It’s then that Milagro sees Red Wolf’s mask has been pulled down, rendering the footage unusable. “Supergirl, get her! NIGHTSTAR, STAY RIGHT HERE!” Robin orders.

“But I－” Nightstar protests as Supergirl disappears again.

But Robin is too pissed off to entertain her objections. “ _You’re_ not bullet-proof!” he snaps. “And you’re too close for such a－”

BANG! “AAAAAAGH!” BANGBANG!

Everyone’s attention snaps back to the tablet. Except for Abuse, who punches out a guy who tries to use the distraction to run away. Drone Alpha is no longer responding, however, so Milagro is forced to switch to Red Wolf’s body camera, which shows a blood-covered linoleum floor and Red Wolf desperately trying to apply pressure to her hemorrhaging leg. Milagro stops breathing for a split second when a shadow appears over Red Wolf, but it turns out to be Supergirl, who scoops Red Wolf up into her arms and then quickly takes off again.


	5. Chapter 5

Lian is infuriatingly unapologetic.

“ _Cheshire_?!” Damian rages in her recovery room as Mari wrings her hands worriedly in the chair next to Lian’s bed and Colin leans with a disapproving frown against the wall by the door. “You broke from the team to chase _Cheshire_?!”

Lian shrugs. “You said not to let anyone go,” she says.

“Oh, bullshit,” snarls Damian.

Colin scowls at the floor and reminds his best friend, “You did say that.”

“My _point_ is that she obviously went beyond the directive for personal reasons!” Damian exclaims.

Lian only shrugs again. “If you say so, sir.”

Before he can shout at her some more, the door opens, and Milagro steps in, just as dourly serious as everyone else in the room. “Wayne, come out here, please,” she orders in a voice that makes it clear that using “please” doesn’t mean the request is actually optional.

Grumbling, Damian steps out of the room, closes the door, and follows her a short distance down the hallway, until she stops, turns around, and smacks him hard in the chest. “Ow! What the hell?” he demands.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” she tells him. She pulls her tablet out of her bright green leather jacket and hands it to him. “I’ve been looking over Lian’s past thirty-six hours to see what lead to her being so uncharacteristically stupid, and guess what - it was _you_ ,” she says, and she points to footage of Damian telling off Lian in the gym. “If you had read her report for anything besides mistakes, if you had let her talk when she quite obviously attempted to tell you what was going on, we would have found out that she had spotted her _mother_ out there.”

Damian blinks at her. “You read the reports?”

Milagro throws up her hands in frustration. “Of course, I read the reports, Damian!” she cries. “I just tell you I don’t to piss you off. Unlike _some people_ , my job is actually super important to me, which is _why_ I tried to get Abuse placed as leader, but as per usual, you convinced him that you were naturally better suited－”

“That’s not what－”

“But you’re a shitty fucking leader, Damian,” Milagro snarls. “I tried to give you a chance because you are extremely well-trained and honestly amazing at tactics, but you _suck_ at people. You don’t even try. I mean, that’s the only explanation I can think of, considering that you have literally been trained by Batman himself in reading people and have used that to your advantage so many times against enemies, but you can’t even bother listening to your own mentees for five seconds! Looking back through your records, I have found a total of _four_ incidents where your advice to the girls was anything other than an elaborate version of ‘stop sucking’. Meanwhile, their _trainer_ is giving them emotional support, tactics advice, and even teaching them how to write a damn report! And the only conclusion I can see to draw from this is that you must simply _not care_. How else could you be so amazingly bad at this? I mean of all people who should be able to empathize with someone facing a villainous mother, it should be you! But you don’t! You won’t! And if you have absolutely no intention of actually looking after them and mentoring them, I have to ask: _Why the hell are you here?_ ”

Damian crosses his arms, bows his head, and doesn’t answer, scowling at the floor instead.

“If anything even _half_ as bad as what happened tonight _ever_ happens again, I _will_ replace you, am I understood?” Milagro demands.

Damian nods quietly. “Yes.”

“Good.” She starts to leave, but then turns back to him. She hesitates, then tells him, “You know what really fucking sucks, Damian? I think you actually could be really good at this if you tried. I wish I knew why you won’t.”

Damian waits a few minutes before he finally returns to the recovery room. Lian frowns up at him. “Look,” she says. “I know I could have done better, and I－”

“ _I_ could have done better,” he corrects.

The room falls silent, confused. “... Sir?” Lian asks at last.

Damian swallows his pride, looks her in the eyes, and tells her, “I should have been looking out for you. I wasn’t. And I’m sorry.” He is intensely aware of the fact that Mari’s mouth has dropped open, and he can’t imagine what Colin is doing behind him. “If we encounter Cheshire again, _we_ will face her as a _team_. Is that clear?”

“... yes, sir?” she guesses uncertainly.

When Damian turns to leave, he sees that Colin is grinning at him. He glares back. Colin grins wider. “Oh, shut up,” Damian tells him and leaves before Colin can tease him any further.

* * *

A few days later, Mariand’r follows Lian into the library while Lian hobbles on crutches to the front desk. Theodore Dyer, a volunteer from the high school, looks up from where he was logging returns and gasps. “Oh my gosh, Ms. Harper!” he cries. “What happened?!”

“I was mugged,” Lian says casually, as though muggings were a normal every day occurrence. “Now I have an awesome bullet wound to go with all the tattoos. And I’ve told you to call me Lian; I’m only a few years older than you.”

Teddy laughs. “Right, _you_ have tattoos,” he says, with an eyeroll. Mari casts Lian a curious look at that, and Lian gestures to her outfit; since she normally dresses conservatively, most people aren’t aware of her tattoos, not to mention they're all done in white ink. “Here, let me get you a chair,” he says, ducking into the adjoining office.

Lian watches him go, then turns to Mari with a raised eyebrow. “You sure about this?” she asks.

Mari hesitates, but nods. “Yeah. I… I really should,” she says.

Lian shrugs. When Teddy comes back out with a chair, Lian says, “Hey, Teddy, I think my roommate is here, and I need to get her to come down. Would you mind summoning her on the intercom? Name is Johanna Lane-Kent.”

Teddy nods and turns back to the office, saying, “Yeah, no prob－” He interrupts himself to spin back toward her, eyes wide. “Wait, Lane-Kent? Like as in Lois Lane and her husband? _That_ Lane-Kent?”

Lian grins. “I forgot what a nerd you are,” she says. “Yes, that Lane-Kent. Lois Lane’s kid is my roomie, and I need her summoned.” She claps at him. “Hop to it, slave!”

Teddy rolls his eyes at her again but disappears back into the office. While Lian gets the chair pulled up to the desk (and then sets a phone book in it so that she’ll be adequately taller than the desk), Teddy’s distorted voice comes on over the intercom, “Johanna Lane-Kent to the front desk, please. Could Johanna Lane-Kent please come to the front desk?”

Several minutes later, Jo appears in the lobby and then hesitates when she sees her “roommates,” saying, “Oh, um, hi guys?” Her body language is obviously wary, and it makes Mari feel even more guilty. Aside from occasionally checking in on Lian, Jo has been avoiding anywhere she had reason to believe Mari might be.

“Um…” Mari tries, then hesitates. Then, she steps forward again and tries again, blurting, “Imsorryforbeingabuttface!”

Jo blinks at her in surprise. “Um…?”

“I’ve only been mean to you since you got here,” says Mari, “and then you not only saved Lian, but you’ve been so helpful ever since, and I never even gave you a chance!”

Jo just tilts her head, genuinely confused. “Of course, I did?” she says. “She’s my teammate?”

“Ohmygoshyouresonice,” Mari rambles into her hand, just confusing Jo further.

“Oh, Ms. Anders-Grayson!” says a voice from the desk, and the girls turn to see that Lian’s boss, Mrs. Saenz, has replaced Lian, probably moving Lian into the office so she could sit without a phone book. “Your hold is in; did you come to pick it up?” Mrs. Saenz asks.

“Oh, um, yes,” Mari answers politely, returning to the desk as Ms. Saenz goes to fetch the book. Mari glances back to realize that Jo is staring at her. “What?” she asks.

“Your name is Grayson?” asks Jo, puzzle pieces finally starting to slide together.

“Mary Anders-Grayson is my legal name,” Mari tells her. “Mariand’r is my traditional name. I’m named after Dad’s mom, Mary.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so dumb!” Jo exclaims, burying her face in her hands. “Of course, I remember you! Mary Grayson was my best friend when I was little! We used to play in the doghouse for some reason? I just－ I’m sorry, I didn’t know the other name, and I thought you were older than me, not younger, and you look, um, _very different_.”

Mari blinks at her. “Doghouse?” she says. “I thought that was your playhouse?”

“What? No, I didn’t have a playhouse,” Jo laughs. “Conner’s dog was just huge. That thing was so cramped and smelly!”

Mari shrugs. “I, uh, thought that was because you’re poor,” she says. Behind her, Mrs. Saenz stops waiting for Mari to hand over her card and goes to fetch Lian back again, smelling trouble.

Jo gapes at her. “ _Poor?!_ ” she cries.

“N-not that there’s anything wrong with that!” Mari says quickly, hands up to gesture innocence.

“Of course not, but we have a five bedroom house in the suburbs?” says Jo. “How did you think we were _poor_?”

Mari shrugs. “Dad says Pop’s house only has two rooms because Grampa Bow was poor.”

“Oh my god, Mary, shut your face!” Lian says, emerging from the office blushing bright red.

“What?” Mari demands, still not understanding what she’d said wrong.

“You’re such a brat!” says Lian. “Not everyone was raised by a billionaire’s heir and a supermodel!”

“Yeah, poor people,” says Mari.

“ _No, Mary_. There’s many different socio-economic tiers besides just ‘rich as hell’ and ‘poor people’,” Lian insists.

Mari shrugs but is clearly embarrassed. “Okay, whatever.”

“Not whatever! Don’t call random people poor,” says Lian. “Even if they are, it’s still rude, usually.”

“Ugh, English is too complicated!” Mari whines, collapsing over the counter in an attempt to look as sad and pathetic as possible.

Lian wasn’t falling for it. “Don’t blame English for you being a brat,” she teases.

Behind Mari, Jo is laughing so hard she’s wheezing a bit. Mari looks back over her shoulder at the girl, then back to her sister. “Do you think that means I’m forgiven?” she asks her sister earnestly.

Lian smirks and roughs up Mari’s curls before moving to check out her book for her. “Please, Princess, you know no one can resist you.”

Mari grins brightly. And once her book is obtained, she quickly pulls Jo out the door to go for ice cream with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on Junior League vol. 1, issue 2: Baby Love  
> \- adventures in dating  
> \- adventures in anxiety  
> \- adventures with the legal system  
> \- adventures in baby-sitting

**Author's Note:**

> So, I don't want to make this too obnoxiously long. If you have more questions about the world building, feel free to comment, and I'll be super happy to explain! But there's a couple things I did want to address:
> 
> \- When I decided to name Lian "Red Wolf", I did not know that Marvel had a native character named "Red Wolf." I just happened to find his book while perusing our local comic shop. I couldn't really think of something better, though, so I stuck with it. The reason I chose Red Wolf was as a reference to her parents, Roy Harper (Red Arrow) and Jade Nguyen (Cheshire). She chose red as her theme color because throughout his career, red has always been _Roy's_ theme color. However, having no attachment to Green Arrow, Lian did not take the "arrow" part of the name as that would tie her to Ollie more than to Roy. Instead, she chose an animal, like her mother. This is both an acknowledgement of who her mother is and a declaration that she doesn't follow her - a wolf is mightier than a cat and doesn't take direction from it.
> 
> \- Johanna Lane-Kent: Because I said so is why.
> 
> \- Mari's name: Canonically, her name is Mar'iand'r. But... that makes no damn sense. Because she's named "Mary" after her human grandmother, Mary Grayson. This makes her Tamaranean name Mary + and'r, or Mariand'r. I highly doubt actual aliens would just add in random apostrophes to make shit look cooler. However, there is a reference to her canonical name later in this series. Also like... canon Mar'i is _horribly_ written. We've basically completely redesigned the character, starting from scratch.


End file.
